From my experience at various summits, conferences, strategy retreats and events I've realised that the following three things are important to consider before hiring a keynote speaker.
One of the most common reasons why businesses and organisations want to hire a keynote speaker is because they want to motivate and inspire their audience. However, I would argue that it's important to look beyond the stagecraft and the speaker's ability to captivate the audience. Try to find out if the speaker have worked with your industry before and is aware of the trends and challenges that are impacting your sector. This aspect is of course even more relevant to consider when you are hiring a Futurist, Trend Expert or Marketing Speaker. Additionally, it can be valuable to see if the person you are thinking about hiring for your event have received any recommendations from other business people in or outside your industry.
Here is a review I received after speaking at COLLOGQUY's summit in Los Angeles last year.
"Anders did a superb job as the keynote speaker at the 2016 COLLOQUY Summit in Los Angeles. His presentation on the digital world and how it's changing the ways we engage with our customers was "spot on" and the feedback from attendees on his session was very positive. I especially enjoyed how he applied the evolution of his mother's business into his views on the future of customer relationships."
- Kurt Allen, Vice President, Market & GM COLLOQUY
Check out this blog post if you want to read about my keynote topics - 3 ways to future-proof your business.
Before hiring a keynote speaker it's also key to think about the results you would like to achieve. Do you want the speaker to focus on inspiring and motivating the audience or do you want the speaker to give insights about the trends that will disrupt their industry? It doesn't have to be one or the other, but it might be worthwile to think about how the speaker could fit into your event agenda in terms of topics, messaging and energy. Prior to contacting a speaker bureau or a speaker it's also valuable ask yourself what a successful event looks like. This question should get you thinking about the objectives and the purpose of the conference.
Check out this blog post for more tips on planning a successful conference - 7 essential tips for planning a successful conference.
After selecting a few speaker candidates for your conference, summit or strategy retreat it's good to do some further research and try to figure out what their area/areas of expertise is/are. What distinguish this speaker from the rest in terms of topics and messaging? There are several ways to do this, and one is to see if the speaker has any YouTube channel or other social media where they show content from their speaking gigs. Another way to find out what his or her area of expertise are is to check out eSpeakers and see if the person has published any thought leading articles or books. Many speakers including myself publish books and articles as a means to showcase ideas.
Check out my new book, Seamless: a hero's journey of digital disruption, adaptation and human transformation (Wiley) is due for release in February 2017. In essence, Seamless provides you with an on-the-ground perspective and critical guidance for thriving in a changing digital world.
WE WILL EQUIP YOU WITH THE VIDEOS AND MATERIALS YOU NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY PITCH ASN.
0 Comment